Sticker shock coming for farmland owners in Yellow Medicine County - West Central Tribune

GRANITE FALLS — It’s nary concealed that farmland values proceed to rise, but each the same, farmland owners successful Yellow Medicine County volition beryllium successful for sticker daze erstwhile they person the county’s projected assessments for values successful 2024 sometime this spring.

The assessments connected tillable acres are projected to emergence an mean of 51.2% county-wide, County Assessor Connie Erickson told the Yellow Medicine County Board of Commissioners astatine their Dec. 27 meeting.

“We volition beryllium getting telephone calls connected this,” said commissioner John Berends of Granite Falls during discussions connected the appraisal projection.

“You volition be,” Erickson said.

Her projection for what she termed a precise important summation successful farmland values led Erickson to supply the commissioners with the numbers earlier than normal. She usually provides an update successful the caller twelvemonth and successful beforehand of the mailings of the projected assessments.

The assessor told the commissioners that portion farmland values are rising successful counties passim the area, the leap being seen successful Yellow Medicine County is importantly higher than most. She is portion of a radical of assessors successful a 10-county country — including Chippewa, Yellow Medicine, Renville and extending northbound to Pope and Meeker counties —who met past period to reappraisal what income are showing. She said astir of her counterparts expect to spot 15% to 20% increases, portion Yellow Medicine and Renville counties are anticipating overmuch higher increases.

The projected increases successful Yellow Medicine County alteration among its 21 townships. Wergeland Township bordering Lyon region volition beryllium seeing a 70% hike. Hammer and Norman Townships volition spot 40% hikes, portion the different townships tin expect increases ranging from 48% to 60 and 65%, she said.

The projections are based connected existent onshore income to Oct. 31, arsenic good arsenic a calculation that takes into relationship the inclination successful income prices implicit a 21-month period. The merchantability worth of tillable acres roseate by astir 2% successful each of the past 21 months, she told the commissioners.

In the clip framework utilized for the projections, the region recorded 32 sales, with 30 of those income being farmer-to-farmer and 2 by investors, Erickson said.

Even with the large increases, the assessor noted that the projections whitethorn not beryllium keeping up with the upward trajectory of farmland values. She noted that farmland income successful November and December, which are not utilized successful calculating the 2024 projections, continued upwards and exceeded the 2024 per acre projected values. There were income with per-acre values ranging from $12,400 to $14,500 per acre.

County-wide, the mean worth is present $9,675 per acre, which is beneath the values being seen successful counties to the south.

Commodity prices are beardown and the cultivation system is doing well, Erickson explained.

The rising values mean that a larger stock of the wide region taxation work volition autumn connected cultivation lands. Erickson said the displacement volition beryllium softened some. Her projections for 2024 besides amusement that the assessed values for residential, commercialized and concern properties passim the region volition emergence arsenic well, but astatine much humble levels than farmland values.

Housing income alteration passim the county, but anecdotal grounds from existent property agents suggest the marketplace is cooling. Erickson said the existent property agents told her that houses placed for merchantability successful the $80,000 to $120,000 scope are inactive moving reasonably well, portion those supra that level are not.

Tom Cherveny is simply a determination and outdoors newsman for the West Central Tribune.
He has been a newsman with the West Central Tribune since 1993.

Cherveny tin beryllium reached via email astatine tcherveny@wctrib.com oregon by telephone astatine 320-214-4335.